La Farmacia |

The other day I went for a morning of shopping with Venetia and Lina to a great old barrio called Flores. It’s old and a bit run down, and there are lots of people selling goods on the sidewalk. But there are bargains to be had, which is why we go! This time we were a bit unlucky, because there was a fire at the end of a street, and the street that was blocked off was the one with the higher end stores with good prices—have to go again, that’s all! But we did manage to, as my sister-in-law Elise always says, “get some money spent”.

Then we went for lunch to an old Bar Notable called La Farmacia. As the name suggests, it used to be a pharmacy a long time ago, and in the tradition of the Bares Notables, they’ve kept a lot of the artifacts from that time.

Venetia and I had been there before and remembered having a marvelous provoleta dish, which we had again. Provoleta is a very Argentine dish that’s based on baked provolone cheese with added seasonings. The only problem with the traditional ones is that if you don’t eat them fast they cool down and get a bit hard. But at La Farmacia they have a special version which they cook in a cast iron escargot pan. The pan stays hot, so the cheese stays gooey and delicious right to the end! I’m including Venetia’s photo of it before we dived in and devoured it. Of course, as a vegan I’m not supposed to eat cheese, but I’ve decided to relax my rules a bit when I’m out because sometimes there aren’t many vegan options. And sometimes there are mini provoletas!

Usually I set up groups of my “researchers” to visit the various Bares Notables to gather information for my book. But this one wasn’t planned.

Venetia suggested we go to a barrio quite a way from the centre of the city called Flores. I had been there before with Lina and done some fun shopping. The only thing was that Lina couldn’t go with us, and I knew I would have trouble finding my way around, as it’s quite a big barrio. It’s also one that has everything from huge numbers of street vendors selling clothing on the sidewalk (literally) to interesting cafes to funky little shops selling clothes you wouldn’t necessarily find elsewhere.

The truth is, we never did find the shops Lina had taken me to, and we’ll have to go another time with her. But, there was a silver lining. Before we went, I had looked online to see if I could figure it out, and I found there was a Bar Notable there, not too far from the subway station, so we decided to start by going there for lunch. What a find!

It’s called La Farmacia and, as the name implies, it was once a pharmacy selling potions and pills of all kinds. In its present life as a bar/cafe, it still has the old dark wood counters, one of which is now the bar. What’s really fun is that instead of the usual rows of wine bottles on the wall, here they have the old jars that used to hold powders and other medicinal remedies. How cool is that? Here are some shots.

And here was one of the great finds! There’s a typical Argentine dish called provoleta, which is a portion of provolone cheese grilled till it’s soft and gooey, and served in the pan it’s cooked in. Sometimes it has herbs and even veggies. The problem I have with it is that it takes me a while to eat all that cheese, and when it cools down it gets hard again and it’s not so nice. The folks at La Farmacia have found the answer! They make little individual ones in one of those trays you use to cook escargots, and it’s cast iron. So it hold the heat, and the provoletas stay hot and gooey — ecstasy!

So I’ll definitely be going back there with more of my researchers.

We did discover one nice little shop, where I had actually bought a top last time I was there. This time I made an impulse purchase of this spectacular skirt! When you dance tango at the milongas here in Buenos Aires, you have a chance to wear things that would be too over-the-top for any other setting, but this will be getting its first outing soon. I was thinking of wearing it tonight, but the black tops I have are a bit too warm for this sweltering heat, so it might have to wait. But I was delighted with my purchase. Venetia also found a blouse she loved and bought it, so even though we didn’t find the street with the good shops, we both counted it a success!